“Everything’s ending. Time to wake up”
So that’s how one of the most divisive, discussed and debated series in recent TV history ends.
Truth be told, the hail of bullets and heartbreak was entirely in keeping with how this season of True Detective played out.
There were fleeting moments of creativity, thrills and tension throughout but it’s such a shame that these were book-ended by drawn out conversations, muddled plot points and repetitive homages to L.A. noir.
Watching this episode – and the season as a whole – felt like the audience was taking one step forwards but another back. While I’ve previously been vocal about the many flaws in how Pizzolatto approached this season, I still watched to the end.
Isn’t that why producers and studios make shows in the first place?
This being said, the finale may have been 90 minutes long but at times the opening 20 minutes felt like they were screaming out for an editor to take a surgical scalpel to the footage. Frank and Jordan’s conversation was dull, Ani and Ray continued to be interesting without really say anything to each other and did anyone care about Nails?
As mentioned in a previous review, the identity of the killer was so easy to telegraph and predict, however, the finale was clever in a very particular way. Pizzolatto flipped the genre on its head because those responsible for finding and hunting the killers from episode one were now being hunted. We all knew that things wouldn’t end well.
The heroes were never going to come out on top here, especially considering Ray was framed for the murders of Paul and Katherine Davis, while the hardrive proved to be a useless MacGuffin.
What did I like then? Burris and Ray’s conversation on the phone was one of the highlights as the sleezy and corrupt cop is the sort of character that revels in wearing his shit eating grin.
Much like the ‘Crow shooting’ ‘Vinci massacre’ and ‘Chessani orgy’ there was one stand-out scene in this episode that reminded you that true Detective can be a cut above the rest, Frank and Ray raiding the exchange between Catalyst and Osip.
Gas masks and shotguns. Epic.
Frank’s plight through the desert as he had to face his own personal demons and mortality was also a fantastic scene and oddly moving.
It’s just shame though that other parts of the episode felt like they belonged in a bad episode of Cops or Law & Order. For example, Ray has proven what a shrewd and calculated operator he can be so why go back to visit his son? Especially since he knew that he would be followed.
Pizzolatto’s decision to sideline and negate much of what made Ani such a strong character wasn’t a clever move also. For the final 30 minutes of that episode she was just given the title of ‘worried girlfriend’ and asked to do nothing of note.
My overall impression? Anyone who says that the show shouldn’t be renewed for a third season needs their head examined because there’s still plenty to offer. This season was incredibly flawed but as Frank says “I was never big on running” and I’d bet good money that Nic Pizzolatto is the same.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ podcast – listen to the latest episode now!
